I'm sure many audience members will make a lot out of just how prescient George S. Kaufman's and Morrie Ryskind's OF THEE I SING is, 72 years after its original premiere. Here we are, in the midst of now familiar election chaos, and watching SING brings to mind the realization that much of the way we view politics in this post ironic age isn't really so modern, new, and cutting edge. As old as the show is, the best part of this rare revival, now on stage at Drury Lane Oakbrook, casts a cynical eye on exactly how and why we elect our Presidents.

OF THEE I SING opens with a funny and scary sequence in which a small group of dedicated voters sing the praises of their candidate, converting anyone who passes by into robotic pod people, who instantly recruit anyone else in their path. Politics as sci-fi.

Back before reality TV, or any TV for that matter, the powerful men behind candidate John P. Wintergreen decide that what their candidate needs is some issue to appeal to not just their party, but to every voter in America. No, not a strong stance on education, the military, taxes, or spending. John P.Wintergreen will run on the platform of love.

See, the campaign whips together a whirlwind of beauty pageants, the winner of whom will be romance by and proposed to by the Presidential hopeful.
Look for this show on Fox next season.

Who can resist love? Not Wintergreen. He falls head over heels almost instantly, for Secretary Mary Turner, played by familiar Drury Lane ingénue, Kelly Anne Clark. Not only is she a career woman, but she also makes the best corn muffins in the world, which is more than enough to convince Wintergreen, and even his doubting backers, that he and Mary are a match.
The only one ho isn't happy about the hook up? Diana Deveraux. Deveraux is a gold digging publicity hound, who has also won the final beauty pageant, andnow she wants her prize. When Wintergreen and Turner marry at the end of Act I, Deveraux shows up, suing for breach of promise (this was written in 1932, remember?). The bewigged Supreme Court Justices are willing to entertain her case, until some of Mary's spectacular corn muffins show up to help them see her point of view.

If you haven't already figured it out, mixed in with all of the political satire is some of the social absurdism, popular at the time, in movies like MILLION DOLLAR LEGS. Unfortunately, not all of it still works in this era of pointed detachment.

In fact, the whole affair is rather hit or miss, with some of the wit sharp and pointed, juxtaposed with old fashioned, cornball moments, many of which come from the songs of George Gershwin.

That's right. I've made no mention of the songs up to this point, because, really, they are inconsequential. Sure, the title tune has a lovely melody, and the singing Supreme Court is amusing, but, for the most part, these are songs that stop the action cold, making this the oldest fashioned of musicals.

Providing the show's highlights, is veteran Dale Benson, an audience favorite who practically stops the show several times, as Vice Presidential candidate Alexander Throttlebottom. His mild mannered persona is perfect in capturing a figure in over his head, but nobody notices. It's an accepted conceit of the play, that no one would want to be Vice President a pointless job, and Throttlebottom is the boob who no one can remember, forcing him to constantly reintroduce himself.

Christine Sherrill is appropriately conniving as Deveraux, and Michael Guttrich is the always smiling Wintergreen. As usual, Drury Lane has put together a solid supporting cast and sizeable ensemble, well miked for the mostly over 65 crowd.

Under William Osetek's direction, the sometimes busy stage never feels overcrowded, even if the tension sometimes flags, a fault mostly of the score and sometimes the script. Tammy Mader's choreography is a pleasure, featuring the good old fashioned dancing missing from so many of today's musicals.

OFTHEE IS SING is the kind of show I want to like more, but like many Pulitzer Prize winners (this was the first musical to ever win the prize), this play captured the zeitgeist of its time, but the world has moved on.
For all that SING has to say about the politics of today, it still comes across as a period curiosity.

OF THEE I SING plays at Drury Lane Oakbrook through January 2, 2005.